An Anime Game that doesn't suck

Ever since man first decided to take an ongoing franchise like a movie or TV show and put them in a video game, its been decades of games that are mostly terrible, but sometimes very awesome. The anime industry is no different, even if the idea of a Soul Eater fighting game sounded awesome, the result was actually pretty awful. But good video games based on anime properties do indeed exist, and I'm here today to tell you about what is arguably the greatest example: Jump Ultimate Stars.

What You Need to Know ...

Aside from creating a few One Piece video games, Japanese game developer Ganbarion actually hasn't been a very notable company. But all that changed in August 2005 when they released a Nintendo DS game, published by Nintendo itself, by the name of Jump Super Stars. It didn't take long before Jump Super Stars' notoriety has caught steam, where it has become one of the most popular import games in years with its fun gameplay and massive Shonen Jump fan service. It was such a success that Ganbarion went and created a far superior sequel in November 2006 by the name of Jump Ultimate Stars

Why You Should Care About It

Games based on Super Smash Bros. are usually terrible, but trust me when I say that this is one of the good ones

The Nintendo DS has been around for more than five years now, yet Nintendo never once released a DS version of their incredibly popular franchise Super Smash Bros. But perhaps the main reason why that never came to be is that after seeing what Ganbarion did with their Jump Stars games, Nintendo probably knew they could never top what was done here. On the top screen you get a fantastic take on Smash Bros. formula with easy-to-learn controls, smooth combat, and all the kinds of items that made Smash Bros. so popular in the first place. There's even a neat rock-paper-scissors game add-in where it goes wise-power-laughter with Bo-bo-bohaving an advantage on Goku because a laughter type beats the power type. But what made the Jump Stars special was what they did with that bottom touch screen. Because it uses the manga from Weekly Shonen Jump, Ganbarion came up with a brilliant plan where you create your own manga page on the bottom with a noteworthy manga panel that you summon by touch, called "koma," depending on how much space you fill. The characters you fight with take up from 4 to 8 blocks that increase in power with each block, the support attacks that take up 2 to 3 blocks are useful if you want to attack without any close combat, and the 1-block koma that add some helpful perks. It's brilliant because the gameplay advantages you can have are endless. You can make a deck with many 4-block characters, have 2 8-block characters with some extra attack koma, or have one character with all sorts of perks and special attacks. I recommend you just get Jump Ultimate Stars instead of Super Stars since it has far more Shonen Jump characters and has a far improved fighting engine with more fluid controls.

It's an awesome game for Smash Bros. fans, but Shonen-Jump-loving otaku will be in heaven with this game

Perhaps the greatest thing about Jump Ultimate Stars actually isn't the super Smash Bros. gameplay, but the massive amount of fun creating your own decks to fight with. I actually played so much Jump Ultimate Stars, that I can't even tell how many hours I played it since it stops at 99 hours and 99 minutes. And most of that time was just coming up with all the Shonen Jump synergies that I've dreamed off. Do I want a deck with an ultra powerful Luffy and Naruto with some Death Note support attacks? Do I also want a deck of my favorite "wise" characters like Nico Robin and Allen Walker? Or do I just want to create the ultimate ironic deck with Super Saiyan Goku with the Super Saiyan-parody version of Don Patch? Really, the real winners who play Jump Ultimate Stars are the people who love the franchises. You can have your Luffy vs. Naruto fight in as many different scenarios as you want, and can have some of your favorite sports manga like Slam Dunk and Eyeshield 21 join in with the form of 2-3 koma support attacks. Simply put, you won't find a greater source of non-nudity fan service for Shonen Jump than in Jump Ultimate Stars. And if you aren't so much of a fan, you still get a genius Smash Bros. substitute that uses the DS hardware in the most creative way.

Any Faults With It?

If there's one fault I can actually come up with for the game, it is the fact that Ganbarion probably added in too many new Shonen Jump properties in Ultimate Stars. It has all my favorites from Reborn! to Black Cat to Gin Tama, but there are some unnecessary extras here. Is there any person who goes to Anime Vice who actually wants a game with Ninku or Jungle King Ta-chan? There could be even more Naruto or Bleach characters if Ganbarion kept the number of series in check. But otherwise this is a brilliant game that I'd easily give at least a 9.5 out 10 score if I had an opportunity give one at that other site I write reviews for.

Where Can You Buy It? (and is the import barrier too much?)

Jump Ultimate Stars has become such a popular import game that even fan-made translations were made

For obvious licensing reasons, the Jump Stars games will most definitely never reach the Wal-Marts in America. But thankfully, the Nintendo DS is a region-free system so you can import on such fantastic sites like Play-Asia. The menus (and more importantly, the mission tasks in the campaign mode) are all in Japanese, but you can find all sorts of helpful guides on the internet. I bought the game just a few weeks after it was first released in late 2006, and there were already a few good FAQ online. There has also been a fan-made English patch for the game if you're willing to go to that level, but otherwise this is a game where you won't have too much trouble making your own decks in no time thanks to all the internet support.

Any Sequels?

Could this be the spiritual sequel that Jump Stars fans have been waiting for? I sure hope so!

Like I mentioned before, Jump Ultimate Stars is the far superior sequel to Jump Super Stars, but sadly there has yet to be any new entries in the Jump Stars series ever since Ultimate. All hope seemed lost for the greatest of Smash Bros. clones, but just the other week I found this little gem floating around on Play-Asia that got me curious. One Piece: Gigant Battle, another title developed by Ganbarion looks to be based on their famous Jump Stars engine and if it all comes together, the undeniably greatest One Piece game ever made will be released this September.

Before I close out on talking about the brilliance that is Jump Ultimate Stars, here is an awesome fan-made compilation video that shows the game in motion:

First thing I ever imported and the thing that eventually led me to start collecting figurines oddly enough. It was a good time, but because of the deck structure it prevented you from playing all the characters when playing with someone who didn't also own the game.

This was really too bad since I didn't know anyone who were willing to buy it, play through it with a guide (since it was all in japanese) to unlock all the characters, and then play it with me. The second thing I ever imported, a pretty good Bleach fighting game, was alot more playable in this regard since it let you choose all the characters even with a single cart.

Anyway my favorite team setup was Renji(5) Hiei(5) Jotaro (6). This game actually got me to watch a few of the shows that I hadn't heard of before, like Gintama and Busou Renkin.

" First thing I ever imported and the thing that eventually led me to start collecting figurines oddly enough. It was a good time, but because of the deck structure it prevented you from playing all the characters when playing with someone who didn't also own the game.

This was really too bad since I didn't know anyone who were willing to buy it, play through it with a guide (since it was all in japanese) to unlock all the characters, and then play it with me. The second thing I ever imported, a pretty good Bleach fighting game, was alot more playable in this regard since it let you choose all the characters even with a single cart. Anyway my favorite team setup was Renji(5) Hiei(5) Jotaro (6). This game actually got me to watch a few of the shows that I hadn't heard of before, like Gintama and Busou Renkin. "

I also made a Team centred in Jotaro called KHAJ (Kick his ass Jotaro, in honor of Jojo Abridged Series) That only had Jojo but had the most overkilling myriad of supprot characters, like Kaiba (3) and Toki (3) About Bleach Bleach Blade Battlers 2 for ps2 is pretty fun, especially playing it with four palyers...

Hey now, don't be knocking Ninku. That little shinobi is awesome, and was an obvious inspiration for the orange-jumpsuit-ninja that game later (his main attack is essentially the Rasengan)

Anyway, this game is fantastic. One of my all time favorites. If the DS wasn't region free, I would have bought a japanese DS for the sole purpose of playing this and Ouendan. I spent so much time unlocking every character, but it was totally worth it.